Side door for railway freight cars



May 3,1927.

v A. E. SMALL sms noon FOR RAILWAY FREIGHT CARS Filed Feb. 25. 1926 Liven/i01 Arfluzr E mall Patented May 3, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR E. SMALL, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR. BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO RAILWAY METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

SIDE DOORFOR RAILWAY FREIGHT CARS.

Application filed February Side doors of railway box cars usually move horizontally to open or close the door opening, thus eliminating the possibility of interference with a car on an adjacent track I or other projections. Such a door is usually hung by hangers at its upper edge to the side plate of the car or it is supported by brackets at its bottom edge to the side sill of the car. Rollers or other anti-friction means are frequently used in such hangers or brackets. Sometimes a lower track is used and rollers are mounted in the lower edge of the door.

My invention resides in movably supporting a side door of a railway freight car so that the door is supported by the side sill (or underframe) of the car when the door is open and by the side plate (or upper part of the car) when the door is closed.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is an elevation of a part of a car with my invention applied thereon.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4- 1 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 shows a modification of Fig. 3.

The side sill 1; side plate 2; roofing 3; flooring 4, and door post 5 are all of the usual construction.

\Vhen the door 8 is in closed position, as shown in solid lines in Fig. 1, it is supported by the hangers 9-10 (which preferably are provided with rollers 11) upon a a track 12 which is mounted upon the car body over the door opening and preferably secured to the side plate, as shown in Fig. 2.

The bottom of the door is held from outward. movement by the brackets 15l6, as

shown in F 3, which, however, do not sustain any weight of the door. The brackets may be eliminated by the use of a similar arrangement to that shown in Fig. 5. hen the door is in open position, as shown in dot and dash lines in Fig. 1, it is supported entirely upon the bottom brackets 17-1819 (which are preferably provided with rollers 20) as shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 1'.

25, 1926. Serial No. 90,561.

As the door is moved from closed to open position the inclined surface 21 on the lower corner of the door engagesthe first bracket 17 which bracket is so positioned vertically that as the door rides upon the bracket it is slightlyfraised, thereby elevating the hanger 9 above the track 12 and relieving the track of part of the weight of the door. As the center of gravity 22 of the door passes over the first bracket 17 it moves from an oblique to a horizontal .position until it engages the bracket 18. This motion elevates the hanger 10 from the track, thus entirely relieving the track of any weight of the door. Therefore, in moving the door from a closed to an open position the weight of the door is transferred from the upper part of the car body (or side plate) to the lower part of the car body (or side sill). When the door is closed it is supported solely along its upper edge and when open it is supported solely along its bottom edge.

I claim:

, 1. In a railway car, the combination of a horizontally movable door, a track mounted on the car adjacent the upper part of the door opening supporting said door when in a closed position, and brackets mounted upon the car so as to solely support the door when the door is in open position, said elements so relatively positioned that as the center of gravity of the door passes the first bracket, upon opening movement, said track is entirely relieved of the weight of the door.

2. In a railway car, the combination of a slidable door supported by hangers from an upper track when in closed position, and brackets located under said door when said door is in open position, said brackets so vertically positioned that as the door rides upon the brackets in opening movement, the door is raised whereby the track is relieved of the weight of the door.

ARTHUR E. SMALL. 

